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Monday, July 6, 2015

A Christian Culture

T. S. Eliot once said that culture is the
incarnation of religion (Notes towards a
Definition of Culture). This is a
good beginning but still a bit lacking.
Prof Christopher Dawson sharpens this when he says, ‘ . . . culture is
the necessary social discipline which subserves the higher ends of the
spiritual life.’ In other words, ‘true
culture is the cultivation of the soul—the discipline of salvation . . .’ (Religion
and Culture, Washington, D. C.: Catholic U. of America Press, 2013 [1948],
p. 147).

Therefore, in any theod (country) that considers
itself to be truly Christian, the culture - all the material goods and
institutions and arts and so on - should help the leod (people) in some way to
attain communion with God, cultivate virtue, and contribute in general to the
healing of soul and body.

So how does the culture of ‘America’, one of the
pinnacles of antiChristian humanism yet somehow at the same time the greatest
Christian country on earth, measure up against these standards?

In goldways (economics), it promotes greed and selfishness
(what is called ‘enlightened self-interest’).

In governingways, its two-party, democratic
electoral system promotes hatred, bitterness, and mistrust among the leod
(people).

In tilthways (farming), it promotes ruthless exploitation
of the land and abuse of animals.

In craftways (technology), it promotes pride in
man’s achievements and his ability to ‘conquer nature’, and fosters
forgetfulness of God through constant streaming of music, movies, etc.

In restingways (leisure), it promotes idolatry of
athletes and actors and actresses, rudeness and drunkenness at sporting events,
and heedlessness by watching too much television.

None of these help a man work out his salvation
quietly, with love for God, other men, and all the creation. None, then, should call the [u]nited States a
Christian country (though we are quick to add that there remain many faithful
Christians within the bounds of the States despite all this gloom).

Seeing all this, we say, Run, Southrons, from America, the latest
Evil Empire to arise in the world.
Hasten, Southern brothers and sisters, to follow the vision of the
Orthodox patriots of Russia, whose ideal of a national culture is ‘Church
customs and Church art’, and the goal of which is ‘the canonization of new
national saints’ in every age (Fr John Strickland, The Making of Holy Russia, Jordanville, Ny.: Holy Trinity
Publications, 2013, pgs. 4, 14). Hurry
onwards, Dixiemen, to ‘achieve[] the ideal of a liturgical culture in which the
whole corporate way of life is ordered to the service of [the Most Holy
Trinity] in a continual cycle of prayer and sacramental action’ (Dawson, p.
80).